Cake! It's what's for lunch!

And, it is delicious!

I am having a nice slice of Aaron's birthday cake for lunch. A white almond cake with a raspberry buttercream and  raspberry coulis filling.  AAAAAA-Mazing!  I am a genius Gus!  Only problem?  My husband got a pink birthday cake, again.  I guess that's what happens when you use raspberries or strawberries.  I can deal with it, and so can Aaron.  He dealt with it so well that he had two slices last night, and he is not a big sweet person.

Here is the link to my new favorite Almond White Cake recipe. It says it's a wedding cake, but who cares.  It is the most amazing cake I've eaten or made.  Really, it's that good.   Obviously I used two 9" rounds instead of a 9x13 pan, I just baked them a bit longer.  Remember though, when baking cakes do not over bake, they will dry out.

The frosting I made was a raspberry cream cheese buttercream.  Very easy.

1 cup butter
8 ozs cream cheese
1/4 raspberry coulis
4-6 cups powdered sugar

1.  Cream room temperature butter and cream cheese together till smooth.
2.  Add raspberry coulis.  Mix till well blended.
3.  Add powdered sugar till desired sweetness and consistency are achieved.


Raspberry Coulis

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
12oz package frozen raspberries

Bring water and sugar to a boil, then boil 2 minutes.  Add raspberries and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer till reduced by half, about 10 minutes.  Strain the seed out and store in a non reactive container.  Will keep for a week in the fridge.

To make the cake I cut the top off each layer to make level and put the remaining coulis on top of each half to soak in.  I then frosted the first layer, on top of the coulis, then turned the other half over and placed it coulis side down on top of the first layer.  I did a quick crumb coat (thin icing layer) and put it in the fridge to set up.  It was kind of squishy in the middle because of the coulis.  After an hour I frosted the cake and stuck it in the fridge.

It is amazing.  Make it.  You will love it.  It is so good, I do not want Aaron to take it into work.

The Perfect (Italian) Storm

So, apparently it is summer and I'm on vacation from overloading sharing with everyone pictures of my beautiful daughter and stories of my crazy life.  Well this one I just had to share.

Tonight I decided to make chicken pot pie (I don't use a recipe, so don't ask).  Yes, I know it is 1,000 degrees out but it sounded good, Aaron loves it, and the house it fairly cool (I have $300 power bill to prove it).

So I cut the veggies, cook the chicken, cook the veggies... you get the picture.  I'm finally at the last step letting the sauce reduce and I reach into the spice cabinet (yes I have a spice cabinet, a big cabinet, not a small one, I like spices) to put away the bay leafs and wham, I knock over another bottles, it falls to the counter right behind the little fan I have blowing on me (the stupid hood fan is stupid and doesn't work worth beans).  Yup, stop laughing cause you know what happened.  The damn lid flew off and I am covered in small green leaves along with the rest of the kitchen.

My spice cabinet.  It needs to be organized.

If you know me this would be the time I totally loose my shit.  Nope, I calmly walked to the basement door, nicely, and calmly, called Aaron up to help me then went back to stirring the filing so it wouldn't burn.  Aaron came up and looked at me and asked "What the Hell?"  I told him what happened.  He is so wonderful! He chuckled and started cleaning it up for me.  I told him I didn't intend for him to clean it all up I just needed him to turn off the fan and be my calming influence.

I was covered!  The counters, stove, and floor were covered!. When Aaron picked up the bottle and I asked what it was.  Yup, Perfect Italian Seasoning.  Hope it doesn't make my pot pie funky.  Not something I use in my recipe.  Oh, yeah, I don't have a recipe, not a seasoning I add.  Anyway, Aaron even washed my feet off for me.  He then thanked me for not loosing my shit.  I thanked him for his help because it happened at the worst possible time.

So there it is, big huge mess, sorry no pictures, I was too busy cooking.

But here's a lovely picture of my lovely pot pie.

Now this!  This almost made me loose my shit!  I need to have a little talk with whom ever did this.  You do not precariously stack the Kitchen Aid! I don't even know how they managed to do this.  UGH!

Who Me? Lazy?

So, umm, I've been a bit lazy lately.  Sorry for not posts.  Not really sure what I've been up to, I guess not too much.  Just being a Mom and Wife and trying to keep up.  Sounds like enough to me.

Lets see...

Dave and Steph

My handsome honey

The beginning of July we went to Connecticut and stayed with Denise (had the best giggles ever at 2 a.m. with her).  We went up for our friends Dave and Stephanie's wedding. It was lovely.  Hot, but lovely.  Well, until Piper splashed in the toilet at the reception and we had to go.  Aaron thankfully was able to enjoy the reception, good thing since he was the best man.

It was a quick trip.  We went up Thursday night and came home Sunday morning.  We let Parker stay with friends and he came home with Denise and Shelby the following week.  Denise stayed for a few days then had to head home and she left Shelby with us for a few more days.  It was wonderful having Shelby here.  Piper loves Shelby.  And it was so nice for me to have someone to play with Piper while I got a few things done.  I was sad when her father came to pick her up.  I can't wait to see them again (Denise and Shelby that is).

Piper has become the biggest ice cream freak.  She loves it. The only problem is if you try to wipe her mouth she thinks you're trying to take her ice cream and she flings it on the floor.  Not fun.  Big mess.  Don't like it.

Here's the messy girl when we went with friends to
Ben and Jerry's.

We've done some more exploring.  We found a Mexican restaurant we really enjoy and actually met our friends Susan and Paul there when they were up from Georgia for their daughters track meet.  She place 9th in the nationals.  Go Hailey!

I've been knitting and crocheting.  Parker is getting ready to start football. Aaron is working and still trying to get the first leg completed for his pilots license.  You know how they say a boat is just a hole in the water that you throw money into.  Well, with flying, you might as well just toss hundreds of dollars into the air a week.  But he loves it, so there you go.  But then with that reasoning I need to buy my own sheep and farm, because I love yarn.  Shh, don't tell him I said that.  Really, I am very supportive (most of the time) of his flying.

And then there is Piper.  Sweet, ornery Piper.  She is really starting to get a bit of an attitude!  She knows what she likes and that's about it.  She will now start crying "OWIE" if she doesn't get her way.  She is dancing constantly and has started singing.  I overheard her singing the ABC's the other day, just ABC and a bunch of gobledegook but it's a start.  She is such a ham too.  She loves to stand in front of the mirror in the entry way and sing and dance to herself.  And she'll say "Awww, pretty" when she see's she has a bow in her hair.

And finally, yesterday was my birthday.  I used to get so excited for my birthday.  Now, ehhh.  And at the yarn store yesterday the lady that worked there saw the little bunny I made Piper.  And she asked Piper "Did your Grandma make that for you?"  Nope not her grandma.  Happy birthday to me! Way to go bitch! Anyway, the rest of the day was nice. Aaron and the kids got me gift certificate to my favorite yarn store (where I was insulted), and took me to lunch at Eammon's for fish and chips.  Then we came home for a swim and finished the day with some lovely peanut butter torte.

The Peanut Butter Torte Aaron and I made.